ELMER TELLS JOHN AND SARAH'S WEDDING ALMOST HERE

The wedding day is almost here.  There is a lot of work, organizing, cooking and more going on.  The ladies have the house almost ready.  Anna and I stocked a meat drawer at David and Jean's for John and Sarah.  We paid the bill for a year.  After that they are on their own paying that bill.

One of our other sons was late with the bedroom set he made for John and Sarah. He said he would deliver it when he came to the wedding.  Anna was not happy when she heard that.  I told him to get that bedroom set loaded on the truck and delivered to the house - NOW.  He knew better than to argue with me.  Not only did the truck with the bedroom set show up, our son came with it. Our son owns the truck with his store advertised on it.  One of his Englisher employees drives that truck for deliveries.  Our son does not drive the truck.  He and the fellow driving the truck unloaded and set up the bedroom set.  Sarah's parents had purchased a new mattress and box spring for the bed so the fellows put that on, too.  The ladies made up the bed.  John and Sarah will be surprised when they go into their bedroom because they are expecting one of those sets that John purchased at the auction.  Anna was so happy that they delivered the bedroom set, she made our son's favorite meal for him and the driver at our house.  Son said it was worth the trip.

Anna wanted to check the wood burning stove to make sure it was all right.  It was a good thing she did.  It was not hooked up correctly.  Smoke filled the kitchen.  Good thing Anna got it out before it got too bad.  Just to check out we called the fire department.  I had my new ladder there so I was on the roof before the fire department got there.  All I could think was here goes John and Sarah's house up in smoke.  After the fire department, myself included, we found what we had to do.  A couple of the fellows, David Jean's husband included, helped me get it hooked correctly.  A couple of us stayed on the roof when Anna tried it again and it worked correctly.  It took the ladies, the better part of the day to clean up all the smoke and air out the house.  We figured that it was John and Eli's son who hooked it up and didn't know what they were doing.

Amish relatives from both families are coming to the wedding so we are finding places for them to stay.  We have two cousins coming to stay at our house.  Some are staying at our children's houses.  Same is going on at Sarah's families.  We are expecting close to 400 people to be there.

Anna made John new Sunday church clothes for the wedding and she made me some, too.  I told her John was getting married, not me, but she said I needed new clothes.  She gave Sarah all the patterns she had for John's clothes.  Anna's patterns are not like the ones you buy at the stores.  The ones she gave Sarah were cut out of paper bags.  Anna labeled the patterns so Sarah knew which ones were for what.  Anna said she wouldn't need them anymore as Sarah would be making all John's clothes.  Sarah really appreciated the patterns.

We will be moving all John's items to his house.  Sarah's family will be moving hers.  The only things John and Sarah will have is some of their clothes.  They want to get into the house, but we still won't let them until they are married.  Not all Amish have this custom.  Not all Amish in our group do this.  But some of us do especially with a new to them house.

Being our 30th wedding anniversary Anna and I had thought of renewing our wedding vows.  We thought it would be nice after all these years.  Seeing John is getting married on that day, we decided not too.  We do not want to take anything away from his marriage.

The ladies are doing all the cooking ahead that they can.  There are two dinners that day.  One dinner is held for everyone after the wedding.  The second one is at about six o'clock for the married couple and their friends about their age.  So when the ladies get all cleaned up of one dinner, it's time to start another.  We men think we have a lot to do, but the ladies really work at the wedding.

Well, Anna will tell you more next week about the wedding.  In a way it is sad, as this is the last of our children getting married and moving from our home.  Of course Eli said, pretty soon it will be our grandchildren - but we have a few years yet.

Trust God's Wisdom,
Elmer

I RECEIVED SOME NEWS FROM ELMER THAT HAPPENED SINCE THE ABOVE POST.  JOHN AND SARAH WERE MARRIED SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9th.  OTHER NEWS IS SARAH'S FATHER PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING.
ANNA IS GIVING A SPECIAL POST ON WEDNESDAY.  SO RECIPE WILL BE ON THURSDAY INSTEAD OF WEDNESDAY.